CULTURE AND ABORTION, by Edward Short

CULTURE AND ABORTION, by Edward Short

American author Edward Short brings an original and eloquent perspective to the on-going struggle between defenders of abortion and defenders of the unborn child's right to life.

Short says he wrote the book to show how only a radically defective culture could give rise to the notion that killing children in the womb is not only morally permissible but a boon to women.

"No previous culture of any society, even those that practised abortion, ever thought to argue that so-called "reproductive rights" trump the lives of innocent children.

"The Romans might have exposed their unwanted babies but they never tried to justify the practice by claiming that such cruelty redounded to women's dignity.

"For feminists, it's a sign of progress that abortion now commands the approval of the world's elites. For the rest of us, it's barbarism.

"Furthermore, if a debilitated culture leads to abortion, abortion itself continually coarsens and dehumanises culture. We see this everywhere today in our own tawdry culture."

Short argues that none of us should hesitate to stand up and defend the lives of innocent children for fear of unpopularity. After all, truth is the lifeblood of human fellowship.

He adds that we do those who sanction abortion no favours "if we refrain from explaining to them how profoundly wrong they are. Out of charity and love we must set them straight, even if it incurs their disapproval".